'TIs a piece of Jesuitism to do evil that good may come thereof, but it is the duty of every good Christian to do good for evil: To tell a Lie politickly to clear a man's self, is an evil of the Church of Rome, and a ready way to prove a man a Jesuit; But if that fals­hood is designed for the ruine of our Neighbour, it carries a more ugly aspect, and is a positive contradiction to the purity of that Doctrine which com­mands us, To render good for evil, and to love our Neighbours as our selves.

I cannot therefore, when I see a Lord beheaded, or a Traytor hanged, refrain from pity, or with-hold my Prayers, and I am not of the humour of the rabble, to insult and glory in anothers misery, I know that it is an argument of a villa­nous disposition to tyrannize and abuse those wretched ruines, which are under the mercy of the Law, whose severity is bitter enough without aggravation: A noble mind; doth (out of native good­ness) shew a kind of sweetness in the dis­position, which, if not the man, doth pity his misfortune, but never doth in­crease his sorrow, by baser usage than doth become his Justice.

In the Title-page of a late Narrative, which bears the Name of Mr. Turbervill, here are these words; An Account of the Gentleman of Grays-Inn, who appeared in Court before the Lord High-Steward to invalidate Mr. Turbervill's Evidence, which words are the Prologue to an after lying, malicious, imperti [...]nt and un­christian-like Tragedy, of the said Gen­tleman's Reputation, and might much rather have been termed, An horrid Ac­count of a barbarous and bloudy Design to bury a man alive.

[Page 2] What is spoken of me in the Title-page is false, and the first Scene a Lie; So that what concerns me in that Narrative, is like the Devil, a Lyar from the begin­ni [...]g: And thus I prove [...], I did ap­pear barely in obedience to an Order of the Honourable House of Peers, dated 27 November, 1680; And I was no vo­luntary Witness, as may appear by the Lord Stafford's Tryal, p. 121, 122. I take it, there is some difference betwixt summoning upon a Design to invalidate, and appearing upon a Design to invali­date, which if Mr. Turbervill had well considered, I verily believe he would never have shewed his Teeth so much against me.

Yet notwithstanding, I was no volun­tary Witn [...]ss, I do here profess, and stand upon it, as a Principle of my Religion, That, had I known any matters cer­tainly true, which would have preser­ved the Lord Stafford's Life, (though I were in all li [...]hood to be murdered by the Papists, or [...] being exposed, as now I am to popular fury) I would and ought to have declared them.

Cruelty is no sign of Courage, in a martial humour, and rashness is a grand impeachment of a man's discretion▪ I and my Family are quite undone, should the World believe what Mr. Turbervill so cruelly, rashly and impertinently (to his purpose) reports of me.

Let him remember the saying of Va­lence to Edward II. In heat of Bloud to kill, may tast of valour, which yet on co [...]ler terms may touch of murder: Your victori­ous sword is imbrewed with honour, let it not ravage where is no resistance: To spill where you may save obscures your Glory, to save where you may spill proclaims your Goodness.

If due thoughts of this shall not ex­cite his pity, then [...]serere [...] Deus!

I thank God I have read something, and I do both remember and abhor the damnable Principles of the Papists, death and destruction are the Jesuits M [...]hinati­us; And Mr. Turbervill himself left his Cloister, because amongst those Brethren (instead of seraphick Piety and Purity of Religion) he could observe nothing but Malice, Envy, Backbyting and Detra­ction of one another: How his procee­dings against me (in his last Narrative) with such violent scandals agrees with this so pious an [...] chri [...]ian-like Resolve, I cannot de [...]ermine, but this I know, that I am abused.

'Tis not the least of our happiness, as English-men, that every man is allowed (by the wholsom Laws of this Kingdom) the liberty of being heard, before he can be legally condemned: I therefore, as my Birthright, claim that Freedom, and humbly begg of all the World, especially all good Protestants, not to wrest or en­force, the plain meaning of this my just and absolutely necessary vindication of my self, to deviate from its true Design, to the service of Malice or Popery.

And I do sincerely profess, That I do not here intend to detract from the cre­dit of Mr. Turbervill's Testimony; but if any thing herein shall efface the mon­strous ugliness of that Character he is pleased to give me, and falsifie what he says in my particular, I humbly beg that it may not be construed to invalidtae his Evidenc; What his Narratiue speaks in relation to the truth of that, does not concern me further, than that I am a Protestant, and highly obliged to himself and all the rest of those worthy Gentle­men, who (by their timely Discoveries) have been blessed Instruments in the pre­servation of our Lives, Religion and Government.

Mr. Turbervill is pleased to say, That without doubt I had large promises from the Popish party, which I thought would be prevalent: 'Tis beyond a Petitio principii, and some sort of Presumption in him, to determine what I thought, Heaven has reserved that as the peculiar business of his own Omniscience: And whether it hap­pens to be right guess'd, or not, I must leave to the judgments of such as know me better, however, it is an uncharita­ble stabbing censure. The Evidence I gave was about a Discourse that had hap­pened betwixt Mr. Turbervill and me, which you may see in the Lord Stafford's Tryal, page 121. I am not here about to vindicate the Truth of my Testimony, [Page 3] I leave that to the World, to believe as they please. It's strange to me that Mr. Turbervill should imagine that I was bri­bed to give that Evidence, which I must needs know (being a Barrister at Law) would be improper for the Prisoner's purpose: Or that if I had been bribed, I presume no man will believe but that the Roman party would have made a better bargain, than for me to declare an imper­tinent Evidence.

But yet I do say, That if what I spoke had greater weight than I believe it had, and was received by every Body as an undoubted Truth, even that could not abate the due credit of Mr. Turbervill's Evidence; for if he was (as I believe) a Papist at that time, when he spoke to me, it was then his Principle to conceal any thing that might tend to a Discovery of their Hellish Plot: And now, good Mr. Turbervill, why so angry?

Impetit animum, nec potest cernere ve­rum.

I would faign know how my Wifes Fortune concerns his Credit? What he now means by small or great? And why he seems to summon me to an account, by saying that the same is now almost spent? O impertinent insulting Tyranny! 'twill be good to remember,

Too great a care improperly exprest, doth often lose the cause it strives to ad­vantage.

But that Mr: Turbervill should know, (and make it as part of an undoubted Truth, in his Narrative,) that I was first called to the Bar, and then after­wards, upon the credit of that, married a Wife, seems wonderful to me; and in that, I may say▪ he is more than Om­niscient; for he knows that, and declares it as a positive Truth, which really ne­ver was, (as I believe, for I dare not be positive, since he affirms the contrary.) I take it chst I was first married in April, and afterwards called to the Bar in Tri­nity-Term 1679. Perhaps Trinity-Tirm might be before April! who can tell? No, no, there is something in this more than I understaud, 'tis a kind of a charm upon my intellects, and (I may say) that I am almost brwitched not to be­lieve my own senses, and yet I do not hold the Doctrine of Transubstantiation.

But suppose I had been married upon the credit of my being called to the Bar, what is that to his purpose? or how does it strengthen his or weaken my Evidence? The Long Robe is no mean Foundation to build a good Fortune on.

Had my condition ever been as cala­mitous as Mr. Turbervill would make the world believe it once was, his charita­ble endeavours are not now wanting to render the same much worse, by expo­sing me to the hatred and fury of man­kind: And I need not fear (the more's my sorrow) of finding some to cut my throat, if he should be so cruel at any time, as to shew me daw [...]'d after his manner to the rabble. Temptations are the Works of the Devil; And if at any time he assaulted me, so as to draw me in to be guilty of my own murder, I heartily thank Almighty God for his Grace, that I am still living, and do de­fie thee Satan.

I was never yet guilty of any sort of TREASONS, Murders, Felonies, Perjuries, Forgeries, &c. So that if I was once poor, I kept my self honest. Dr. Oates says, That a man's poverty is no objection against his honesty: L. Stafford's Tryal, p. 130. And when, not very long ago, I saw Mr. Tur­bervill in a low condition (as I thought) I pityed him, and would now fain know how he comes to dash Poverty in the Teeth of Evidence? If a man (as he says) would do much to gratifie a person that had preserved him from starving, I do ve­rily believe he would do much more to keep himself from starving: But that a man ought to perjure himself, on a point of Gratitude, or upon any other account whatsoever, I thank God is none of my principle, nor indeed had I ever any temptation that way; which I protest to be true upon my hopes of Salvation.

What Mr. Turbervill designs to do with me I cannot tell, he renders me a man un­principled, and in that a Beast; (as far as in him lies) yet when I think on God's providence, in my preservation, against the hatred of froward men, I have no rea­son [Page 4] to renounce, my humanity, bu [...] much rather to admire his divine goo [...]ss. I will now give Mr. Turbervill a tast of my principles, which I have most r [...]son to use in these lamentable ti [...]es of distracti­on.

True Piety bindeth the Subject to deliver a good Sovereign, to [...] with a bad, and to take up the burthen of Princes with a bended knee, hoping rather in time to merit abatement, [...].

The King in his Throne, is like the Sun in the Firmament, whose in [...]uence animates all sublunary Beings: So the Authority of a Prince gives life and vigour to every parti­cular Member of the Body politick; And he is not only Caput, but also Anim [...] Relpub­licae; And no Member ought to move against that Soul which is the Life of its being, or presume to accede too near this resplendent Head, (by intermeddling with the scorch­ing influences of the State Ar [...]) lest the brightness thereof should dazle the Adven­turers into Blindness and Faction, and the heat thereof scorch them into [...] and Destruction.

But suppose a Magistrate really tyranni­cal; it is no contemptible Question, Whe­ther the evils of the redress may not be equivalent to the mischiefs imposed? I remember Livy's Nec morbum ferre pos­ [...] nec remedium: And Tacitus's [...]erend, a Regum ingenia, ne (que) [...] effe crebras mutati [...], [...] [...] don [...] homines; sed ne (que) haec continua Et meliorum interrantu pensantur: And Seneca's Infaeliciter aegrotat, cui plus pe­ricull à Medico quàm Morbo. Poise the miseries of a Civil-war with the grievan­ces of an unjust Magistrate, and the Bal­lance seems to me so unequal, that (if my Christianity fail) the apprehension of the ine­vitable miseries by the sword, is sufficient to deter from such a damnable Practice; For though the fury of incensed Tyranny may fall heavy upon many particulars, yet the bloudy consequences of an intestine Sword are more epidemical and lasting: But if there be such Distempers in a State, as shall require amendment, let it be left to the course of providence, and not (against the disposi­tion of Heaven) be attempted by the sword of violence, For I never read that Illegal or Tumultuous, or Rebellious were proper Epithets for Reformation.

And the learned Bodin saith, Albeit by the sufferance of the King of England, controversies between the King and his people are determined by the High-Court of Parliament, and sometimes by the Lord Chief Justice of England: Yet all the Estates remain in full subjection to the King, who is no ways bound to follow their advice, neither consent to their requests. And yet, as to the right of the Subject, I held with Fortescue, That Rex Anglia ne (que) per se, aut ministros suos, subsidia, aut alia quae vis oners, imponit Ligeis suis, sine assensu totius regni sui, in parliamento suo expresso.

So much for a tast, but should I proceed instead of a compendious Narrative I might make a large Volumn; wherefore I will conclude with a few Negative Votes, viz. That Dominion is not founded in Grace, as the Jesuits and some others hold: That passive Obedience is fit for Fools, and those that know no better: Or that it is lawful to bear Arms against the King, and resist him in mattess of Religion and Conscience, I utterly deny and abhor: And from such as hold the contrary, I will conclude upon our present Distractions. Novi ego hoc saeculum quibus moribus sit; Malus bonum, malum esse vult, ut sit sui simi­l [...] turbant, miscent mores mali; Ra­lpa [...], Avarus, Invi [...]us, sacrum profanum, publicum privatum habebit; Hiulca gens, &c.

Good Lord deliver us.